Ex-detective will aid deputies' case

They're suing Sheriff's Office over assault allegation

By ERIC NALDER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

Updated 10:00 pm, Friday, January 20, 2006

Bob Keppel, one of the county's most famous former detectives, is scheduled to testify against King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, former Sheriff Dave Reichert and others in a high-profile lawsuit filed by two of her current deputies.

Keppel, the lead detective in the Ted Bundy murder case, will testify that Rahr and Reichert ordered the October 2003 arrest of deputies George Alvarez and James Keller without probable cause, said Reba Weiss, the attorney representing the deputies.

Sheriff's Office spokesman John Urquhart said he has a "great deal of respect" for Keppel but disagreed that the deputies were arrested without probable cause. He noted that the prosecutor's office participated in and approved the decision.

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When the arrests occurred, Rahr was a chief serving under Reichert. Reichert, now a congressman, could not be reached for comment. The others named in the suit, Chief Scott Somers and Detective Mark Toner, also weren't available for comment.

The Alvarez and Keller case has created a furor in the department. It has turned many deputies against Rahr.

"Any time there is an argument in the family, it is disheartening," Urquhart said.

Meanwhile, the sheriff and her co-defendants filed a motion on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle -- where the lawsuit is being heard -- asking that Alvarez and Keller be forced to pay their legal fees if the two deputies lose their case. Weiss said such a motion is fairly routine in cases like this, and it doesn't worry her.

But the county has spent $75,000, so far, defending the four and the case has barely begun, said Lee Corkrum, the private attorney hired to defend Rahr, Reichert, Somers and Toner. He said his clients feel obliged to help taxpayers recover their expenses.

Alvarez and Keller were arrested and charged with assaulting a confidential source, Michael Winchester, who had not been cooperating with them the way he had promised in an investigation of Samoan gang members. Also arrested with Alvarez and Keller was Barron Baldwin, a Des Moines police officer working with them. Baldwin has filed a separate claim against the county and is currently appealing his termination by the Des Moines department.

After a jury in the criminal case acquitted Keller on one assault charge and was unable to decide on the other counts filed against the officers, Sheriff Reichert dropped an earlier threat to fire Alvarez and Keller. He ended up suspending them for 20 days.

Rahr had recommended the two deputies be fired and had successfully urged Somers to recommend the same, but she softened her stance against them after hearing their testimony in an internal hearing, according to an e-mail she sent to her top staff in July 2004. She said in the e-mail she had changed her mind about their guilt after hearing their stories in the closed hearing.

The deputies also claim they were mistreated in the King County Jail after the Sheriff's Office told jailers that Alvarez was an escape risk and Keller was a suicide risk. They also say they weren't protected from gang members who threatened them and their families.

Keppel, now an assistant professor of criminal justice at Seattle University and a consultant, confirmed his role as an expert witness but said it wouldn't be appropriate for him to comment.

Corkrum, a civil trial attorney who has defended other departments against lawsuits filed by officers, said he hasn't hired any expert witnesses and wasn't aware Keppel would testify for the other side.

Corkrum said the sheriff had plenty of probable cause to arrest Alvarez and Keller that night in October 2003. He said investigators had already taken statements from two officers, a Des Moines cop and a sheriff's deputy, who had been at the scene and said there had been an assault.

"How could anybody seriously contend there wasn't probable cause when there were two eyewitnesses?" Corkrum said.

Weiss said the two officers gave conflicting statements that should not have led to an arrest. In addition, they had a conflict of interest because they were possible accomplices in any crime that might have been committed.

Investigators didn't find or interview Winchester, the man who was supposedly beaten, until after Keller and Alvarez were arrested. He said he had been assaulted and threatened with drowning. Winchester has a long criminal record, and he admitted in the criminal trial that he had lied about one aspect of the case.

The case has been costly from the beginning.

Taxpayers spent about $800,000 defending Alvarez and Keller against the criminal charges, according to Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County prosecutor's office.

The motion Corkrum filed Thursday also stated that the two deputies have "maliciously prosecuted a civil action" against the sheriff and the others without cause. He asked the judge to dismiss their case and to award his clients one dollar in damages plus attorneys fees.

"I think we have very strong and legitimate claims that Keller and Alvarez were the ones that were maliciously prosecuted," said Weiss.

"They are testing our resolve to see if this will frighten us into backing off," said Alvarez. "I want to go to trial. I want answers. I'll spend every dime I have to get it. This is about right and wrong to us."

"I just think that they are just trying to save face, so to speak. There is no way they are going to be able to defend these claims," said Keller. "I am not the least bit worried about it."

Weiss said she intends to show that the two deputies were arrested as a show by Reichert when his department was dealing behind the scenes with other embarrassing cases that were exposed in a recent Seattle P-I investigation, "Conduct Unbecoming."

"Underneath the surface were the Pat Covey and the Dan Ring cases, the other bad cops they were cutting deals with. This was a way of covering up the real bad stuff that was going on," she said.